YourFonts review

Create a typeface from your own handwriting, using YourFonts

by
Karl Hodge| 14 Apr 10

Rating

Price

RRP:

Best prices today

Retailer

Price

Delivery

Price comparison from , and manufacturers

YourFonts review

When was the last time you wrote anything longer than a shopping list or note to the milkman on paper? You know, with a pen. As personal computers have become ubiquitous, they’ve replaced everyday activities we used to take for granted. Such as writing letters.

So here’s a compromise. With online tool YourFonts, you can create a TrueType format font that’s compatible with any application on your Mac, from your own handwriting. The results are ideal for giving a personal touch to typed letters, stationery designed on your Mac, or just for creating groovy fonts for your own use. We’ve employed YourFonts as a way to quickly create unique comic book fonts.

The process is easy and effective – but you will need a flatbed scanner and a printer to see it through. You start by printing out the service’s template, which you fill in letter by letter – use a good thick marker. Too thin and your results won’t scale down well to small point sizes. We found that a Sharpie or similar works best. Make sure you stay within the guides too or letters may be cut off.

When you’re happy with the way you’ve filled in the template, you scan it back in to your computer and upload it to www.yourfonts.com as an image file. You’ll get to preview your font before you commit to buying and downloading it. Once installed in your machine, you can use it in design packages, image processing or even text editing.

OUR VERDICT

YourFonts isn’t the only handwriting-to-font solution online but, in our experience, it is the best. Fontifier (www.fontifier.com) is a little cheaper, but the results aren’t as high in quality and there’s no PDF template – just a GIF to print.